Automatic Chuck Apparatus, Grinding Wheel Cutting Apparatus and Cutting Method

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides an automatic chuck apparatus comprising a mechanical chuck, a mechanical chuck mounting bracket, a hydraulic motor, a lifting mechanism, a chuck key and a lifting cylinder. The mechanical chuck is mounted above the mechanical chuck mounting bracket. The hydraulic motor, the lifting mechanism and the lifting cylinder are mounted below the mechanical chuck mounting bracket. The hydraulic motor is configured to control the rotation of the chuck key, the lifting cylinder is configured to drive the chuck key to ascend or descend through the lifting mechanism, thereby the mechanical chuck is locked or loosened by the chuck key. The present disclosure further provides a grinding wheel cutting apparatus and a cutting method. In the present disclosure, the locking of the chuck is automatically controlled, thereby improving the working efficiency and ensuring sufficient locking force of the chuck.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to cutting workpieces, more specificallyto an automatic chuck apparatus, a grinding wheel cutting apparatus anda cutting method.

BACKGROUND

There are two ways to lock a to-be-cut rod workpiece in the art. One isto lock/loosen the workpiece manually, and the other one is to lock theworkpiece with a hydraulic chuck.

Manual locking/loosening involves low efficiency and high laborintensity. The hydraulic chuck may fail to meet the practicalrequirement of rod workpiece cutting due to its small inner hole, andinvolves inconvenience in its installation.

Therefore, a more efficient, convenient, and widely applicable clampingsolution is needed to solve the above problems.

SUMMARY

To solve the problem of low efficiency in chuck locking operation in therelated art, the present disclosure provides an automatic chuckapparatus, comprising a mechanical chuck, a mechanical chuck mountingbracket, a hydraulic motor, a lifting mechanism, a chuck key and alifting cylinder;

wherein, the mechanical chuck is mounted above the mechanical chuckmounting bracket, and the hydraulic motor, the lifting mechanism and thelifting cylinder are mounted below the mechanical chuck mountingbracket;

the hydraulic motor is configured to drive the chuck key to rotate, thelifting cylinder is configured to drive the chuck key to ascend ordescend through the lifting mechanism, and thereby the mechanical chuckis locked or loosened by the chuck key.

It is another aspect of the present disclosure to provide a grindingwheel cutting apparatus which comprises the automatic chuck apparatus asdescribed above, and is configured to clamp a rod workpiece by theautomatic chuck apparatus to cut the rod workpiece.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus comprises two sets of the automatic chuck apparatus.

It is another aspect of the present disclosure to provide a grindingwheel cutting apparatus comprising a first laser distance sensor, amaster controller, a grinding wheel and the aforementioned automaticchuck apparatus, wherein the first laser distance sensor iscommunicatively coupled to the master controller, wherein,

the first laser distance sensor is configured to obtain an outerdiameter of a rod workpiece, the master controller is configured totransmit the outer diameter of the rod workpiece to an external device,and receive a segment length of a segment to be cut off from the rodworkpiece which is determined by the external device based on the outerdiameter of the rod workpiece, a material density of the rod workpieceand a segment weight of the segment;

the master controller is configured to perform a control to circularlycut the rod workpiece with the grinding wheel according to the segmentlength; and

the automatic chuck apparatus is configured to clamp the rod workpiecebeing cut.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus further comprises a second laser distance sensor configured toobtain a cut depth of the rod workpiece.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus comprises two sets of the automatic chuck apparatus.

It is another aspect of the present disclosure to provide a rodworkpiece cutting method for cutting a rod workpiece with theaforementioned grinding wheel cutting apparatus, the method comprises:

determining a material density of a to-be-cut rod workpiece and asegment weight according to a user instruction;

obtaining an outer diameter of the rod workpiece;

determining a segment length based on the outer diameter, the materialdensity of the rod workpiece and the segment weight; and

cutting the rod workpiece according to the segment length.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method furthercomprises:

obtaining a cut depth of the rod workpiece; and

determining a compensation depth for the next cut based on the obtainedcut depth and a prescribed compensation algorithm.

In the present disclosure, the locking of the chuck is automaticallycontrolled, eliminating the need to manually lock the mechanical chuckin the related art, thereby improving the working efficiency andensuring sufficient locking force of the chuck. The chuck key iscontrolled by the hydraulic motor to lock the chuck, therefore inaddition to locking the chuck, the locking force of the chuck can beadjusted by controlling the torque of the hydraulic motor.

The above and additional objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be apparent from the following detailed descriptions ofpreferred embodiments in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

For clear illustration of the embodiments in the present disclosure orthe prior art, a brief description of the drawings for the embodimentsor the prior art will be given below. Obviously, the drawings describedbelow involve only some embodiments of this disclosure. For those ofordinary skilled in the art, other drawings can be derived from thesedrawings without any inventive efforts. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the grinding wheel cutting apparatus inan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a feeder in an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a side view of an automatic feeder in an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a swing arm in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a support bracket according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of an automatic chuck locking deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a front view of the automatic chuck locking device in anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a partial schematic view of a mechanical chuck of theautomatic chuck locking device in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 17 is a partial schematic view of the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus with two mechanical chucks in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 18 is a side view of a floating roller conveying mechanism in anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a partial schematic diagram of a floating roller conveyingmechanism in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19A is a partial schematic diagram of the floating roller conveyingmechanism in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 22 is a schematic view of a dust collector according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22A is a schematic view of the dust collector according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 is an overall schematic view of the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of a cutting method according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of a grinding wheel apparatus in anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 26 is a side view of a flange in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram of the flange in an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 28 is a side view of a pull rod in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 29 is a schematic diagram of the pull rod in an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A clear and complete description of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure will be set forth with reference to the drawings. Obviously,the described embodiments are only a part, rather than all, of theembodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments derived bypersons skilled in the art from the embodiments of the presentdisclosure without making inventive efforts shall fall within the scopeof the present disclosure.

A complete description of the specific embodiments and the operationprinciple of the present disclosure will be set forth with reference tothe accompanying specification and drawings. It should be appreciatedthat the scope of the present invention is not limited to thisdisclosure. Any improvements, modifications and alternations made bythose skilled in the art without departing from the concepts andprinciples of this disclosure shall fall within the scope of the claims.

The features described and/or shown in an embodiment can be applied toone or more other embodiments in a same or similar manner, and can becombined with features in other embodiments or replace features in otherembodiments.

The term “comprise” and “include” refer to the existence of a feature, apart, step or member, and are not meant to exclude existence or additionof one or more other features, parts, steps or assemblies.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a grinding wheelcutting apparatus, which may comprise a first laser distance sensor, amaster controller, and a grinding wheel, and the first laser distancesensor may be communicatively coupled to the master controller.

The laser distance sensor may be configured to obtain an outer diameterof a rod workpiece.

The master controller may be configured to determine a segment length ofa segment to be cut off from the rod workpiece based on the outerdiameter of the rod workpiece, a material density of the rod workpieceand a segment weight of the segment.

The master controller may be configured to perform a control tocircularly cut the rod workpiece with the grinding wheel according tothe segment length.

The cutting and blanking of a master alloy rod workpiece are determinedaccording to a required material weight for the subsequent precisioncasting process or pulverizing process.

The conventional method for cutting a master alloy rod workpiece isfixed-length cutting, in which a cut-off length is determined by takingthe material density of the master alloy rod workpiece into account andassuming the outer diameter of the rod workpiece to be constant, and themaster alloy rod workpiece is cut at the fixed cut-off length. However,in practical application, even the master alloy rod workpieces producedin the same batch and the same furnace may be inconsistent due to theuneven ingot mold sizes and the processing for eliminating defects onthe cast surface, with a ±2 mm error in the outer diameter of the masteralloy rod workpiece from the nominal one. The error in outer diameterwill cause unconformity of weight of the cut-off segment to thesubsequent precision casting or pulverizing process, and in turn wasteof the master alloy material or insufficient shrinkage compensation ofthe cast piece.

The grinding wheel cutting apparatus of the present disclosure providesa fixed-weight cutting approach, in which an outer diameter of a rodworkpiece to be cut is measured by a laser distance finder (i.e., alaser distance sensor) while the rod workpiece is locked and heldstable, and a cut-off length of the rod workpiece is determined based onthe outer diameter, a material density of the rod workpiece and arequired weight. That is, the cut-off length is determined by thefollowing equation:

L = G/[p^(*)(d/2)^(2*)π]

Wherein L denotes the cut-off length; d denotes the outer diametermeasured by the laser distance sensor; G denotes segment weight set by auser, i.e., the required weight; ρ denotes the material density of therod workpiece; and π denotes circumference ratio.

The master alloy rod workpiece usually has a number of grinding anddressing spots. In order to avoid measurement error of the outerdiameter of the master alloy rod workpiece, in an embodiment of thedisclosure, the rod workpiece is rotated by a rotation apparatus whilemeasured by the laser distance sensor, so as to obtain a set of outerdiameters. The set of out diameters are averaged to obtain an accurateouter diameter d.

As shown in FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of the grinding wheelcutting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,an upper laser distance finder 101 measures an outer diameter of a rodworkpiece 103 which is locked and held stable by a chuck 102. A mastercontroller (not shown in the figure) determines a segment length of asegment to be cut off from the rod workpiece based on the outer diameterof the rod workpiece, a pre-stored density of the rod workpiece and apreset segment weight of the segment. The grinding wheel cuttingapparatus cuts the rod workpiece according to the segment length.

There are two methods for removing the oxide scale of the master alloyrod workpiece, in which the rod workpiece skinned by a lathe usually hasa good roundness and the rod workpiece skinned by a roller mill may havea slightly elliptical shape. In an embodiment of this disclosure, whenmeasuring the outer diameter of the master alloy rod workpiece skinnedby the lathe, it may be rotated by 45°, and for the master alloy rodworkpiece skinned by the roller mill, it may be rotated by 90°.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the grinding wheel cutting apparatusmay further comprise an automatic feeder, as shown in FIG. 2. Theautomatic feeder may comprise a swing arm 201, a rack platform 202 and acylinder 203. The rack platform 202 may be configured to store rodworkpieces to be cut, and the cylinder 203 may be configured to controlthe swing arm 202 to extract the rod workpiece 103 and feed it to thecutting apparatus for processing. FIG. 3 is a side view of the automaticfeeder in the embodiment.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality ofrod workpieces are placed on the rack platform, and a platform surfaceof the rack platform in this embodiment has an inclination angle of 5°with respect to the horizontal plane. However, the inclination angle isnot limited to this value. The rod workpieces on the platform surfaceroll to a front end of the swing arm by gravity, and the cylinder drivesthe swing arm to swing and place one of the rod workpieces to a feedingstation.

As shown in FIG. 5, after the rod workpieces are placed on the rackplatform, one of the rod workpieces to be cut is fed by controlling theswing arm 201 to ascend and descend, and other rod workpieces on therack platform 202 are blocked from rolling down by a stopper block 205.A push rod 301 of the grinding wheel cutting apparatus pushes the rodworkpiece into an automatic chuck (not shown in the figure) at the frontend of the cutting apparatus, and the chuck locks the rod workpiece androtates by 45° or 90°.

As shown in FIG. 6, which is a side view of the swing arm in anembodiment of the disclosure. The swing arm may be provided with aL-shaped stopper link 204 and V-shaped structures 206, 207 at both endsof the swing arm. In this embodiment, the L-shaped stopper link 204 andthe V-shaped structure 207 prevent the rod workpiece 103 from rollingback and forth when the rod workpiece 103 reaches a feeding roller 302,and the V-shaped structure 206 extracts a rod workpiece when the swingarm swings.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the out diameter of the rodworkpiece 103 is measured by a laser distance finder. As shown in FIG.7, a laser distance finder 701 may be disposed above the front of achuck 702 to measure a set of outer diameters of the rod workpiece 103.The master controller calculates an average diameter of the outdiameters of the rod workpiece 103 and calculates a cut-off length basedon the average diameter, a pre-stored density of the rod workpiece and apreset cut-off weight (namely the segment weight). The chuck 702 locksthe rod workpiece after the rod workpiece has been pushed to a presetposition by the push rod 301 under the control of the master controller,and then the rod workpiece is cut by the grinding wheel.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, in the cutting process of the rodworkpiece implemented by the cutting apparatus, the rod workpiece may becircularly cut while being rotated by the chuck 702 until the cuttingreaches a preset core diameter. That is, the rod workpiece is circularlycut and the cutting is finished when the cut depth reaches a presetdepth. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 8,the cut depth is measured by another laser distance finder 703 which maybe disposed above the rear portion of the chuck 702. In addition, in theembodiment of the disclosure, the master controller calculates a weardata of the grinding wheel based on the measured reserved core diameterand a prescribed algorithm. The calculated wear data may be applied tocompensate for wear of the grinding wheel in the next cutting, therebyavoiding an insufficient cut depth caused by the wear loss of thegrinding wheel.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus cuts the rod workpiece to a preset core diameter and does notcut off the rod workpiece. In other words, the grinding wheel does notpass through the center of the rod workpiece, so as to avoid particlesand dusts entering into a shrinkage hole of the rod workpiece in thecutting process, thereby avoiding a scrap of the precision cast piececaused by the particles and dusts. In order to prevent the grindingwheel from contacting the shrinkage hole in the cutting process andrealize the above cutting method, the cutting apparatus circularly cutsthe rod workpiece in a mutual manner, that is, the rod workpiece isrotated while being cut, so as to realize a circular cutting, and thecut depth is controlled.

In order to avoid the contamination caused by the grinding wheel passingthrough the shrinkage hole as described above, in the embodiment of thedisclosure, the cutting apparatus circularly cuts the rod workpiece in amutual manner. In addition, in order to avoid the shrinkage hole frombeing exposed to the cutting environment, the cutting apparatus cuts asingle rod workpiece by multiple cuttings and in a non-cut-through way.However, the rod workpiece that is not straight may sway (bounce) duringthe rotating-and-cutting process, which may cause the rod workpiece tobreak off or hinder the cutting process, and may result in accidents. Inview of this, the cutting apparatus in an embodiment of the disclosuremay further comprise a flexible supporting device configured to flexiblysupport a part of the rod workpiece that has been cut, so as to preventthe part from being broken off by the rotation or hindering thesubsequent cutting process. The flexible supporting device may comprisea supporting bracket, a V-shaped plate, a floating spring and a firsthydraulic cylinder. As shown in FIG. 9, the supporting bracket maycomprise a cylinder mounting plate 901, an up-down moving plate 902,four guide rods 903 and a bottom plate 904. The cylinder mounting plate901 and the up-down moving plate 902 may be all mounted to the fourguide rods 903, the first hydraulic cylinder may be mounted on thecylinder mounting plate 901, and the up-down moving plate 902 may bearranged under the cylinder mounting plate 901. The first hydrauliccylinder applies force to the up-down moving plate 902 via the top plate911. The floating spring may be arranged between the top plate 911 andthe up-down moving plate 902.

In this embodiment, the cylinder mounting plate 901, the up-down movingplate 902 and the guide rods 903 may be disposed on the bottom plate 904to constitute an upper supporting bracket. A chain wheel fortransferring the rod workpieces may be disposed on the bottom plate 904and pass through the upper supporting bracket. The cylinder mountingplate of the upper supporting bracket may be provided with a firsthydraulic cylinder for driving the up-down moving plate 902 to move upand down. The rod workpiece to be cut is placed on the chain wheel 907,the chain wheel 907 supports the rod workpiece and transfers the rodworkpiece to the next processing station after cutting of the rodworkpiece is finished. The supporting device in this embodiment mayfurther comprise a bottom plate 904, a cross beam 905 and a verticalplate 906, which constitute a chain wheel supporting platform forsupporting the chain wheel 907.

As shown in FIG. 10, in cutting the rod workpiece, the rod workpiece isinserted into the chuck 702, with its front end portion being placed onthe chain wheel 907 to be supported and conveyed by the chain wheel 907.

As shown in FIG. 11, a chain plate 9071 of the chain wheel 907 may beprovided with a V-shaped plate 908 on which a floating stopper screw 909is mounted. The head of the floating stopper screw 909 may be elastic soas to rotatably hold the rod workpiece in all directions. As shown inFIG. 12, the flexible supporting device may comprise a floating spring912 installed between the hydraulic cylinder 910 and the top plate 911by a screw connection with a certain amount of compression reserved. Thechain wheel 907 may be installed on the bottom plate 904 of the flexiblesupporting device.

As shown in FIG. 13, a second hydraulic cylinder (not shown) may beprovided under the bottom plate 904. The second hydraulic cylinder maybe installed under the bottom plate 904 through a vertical plate 906 andapply force to the bottom plate 904 through a cylinder top plate 913.Another floating spring may be provided between the top plate 913 andthe bottom plate 904 and acts as a buffer when the rod workpiece islifted, so as to reduce vibration and provide flexible support for therod workpiece. In the process of pressing and breaking the rod workpieceinto rod workpiece segments after the cutting process is completed, thehydraulic cylinder 910 applies a down-force to the up-down moving plate902 and the hydraulic cylinder below the bottom plate 904 applies anup-force to the top plate 913 to clamp the rod workpiece 103 through theV-shaped plate 908, so as to provide flexible support for the rodworkpiece.

In an embodiment, another V-shaped plate 908 may be installed below theup-down moving plate 902 to coordinate with the V-shaped plate on theconveyor belt of the chain wheel 907 to prevent the rod workpiece fromswaying. In the embodiment, the flexible supporting device providesflexible support for the rod workpiece through the upper and lowerfloating springs, and the flexible supporting device moves synchronouslywith the rod workpiece, allowing for stable cutting of the rod workpieceas supported.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus may further comprise an automatic chuck locking device, whosecross-sectional view is shown in FIG. 14. In the embodiment, theautomatic chuck locking device may comprise a mechanical chuck 1301, ahydraulic motor 1302, a lifting mechanism 1303, a chuck key 1306, and alifting cylinder 1304. The mechanical chuck 1301 may be mounted andfixed to a chuck mounting bracket 1305. The hydraulic motor 1302, thelifting mechanism 1303, and the lifting cylinder 1304 may be mountedbelow the chuck mounting bracket 1305. The lifting of the liftingmechanism is controlled by the lifting cylinder 1304 to insert the chuckkey 1306 into the keyhole of the mechanical chuck 1301, and the rotationof the chuck key 1306 within the chuck keyhole is controlled by thehydraulic motor to lock or loosen the chuck, thereby achieving theautomatic locking and loosening of the mechanical chuck, eliminating theneed in the related art to manually lock and loosen the mechanicalchuck, improving efficiency of the mechanical chuck, and reducing thelabor intensity of the operators. In addition, as the hydraulic motor iscontrolled by a computer device to control the locking of the mechanicalchuck, sufficient locking force of the chuck can be achieved. FIG. 15 isa front view of the automatic chuck locking device provided in theembodiment. FIG. 16 is a partial schematic view of the automatic chucklocking device provided in the embodiment. The chuck key 1306 passesthrough a mounting plate of the chuck mounting bracket 1305. The chuckkeyhole 1307 is aligned with the chuck key 1306 by controlling the chuckto rotate, and the locking or loosening of the mechanical chuck 1301 iscontrolled by the chuck key 1306.

In the embodiment, the mechanical chuck 1301 is used in replacement ofthe hydraulic chuck commonly used in the related art whose inner hole istoo small, so that the cutting apparatus in the embodiment can meet morevarious requirements for the cutting and can be more applicable.

In the embodiment, the locking of the chuck involves two operations:rotating of the chuck key, and moving of the chuck key into or off thechuck keyhole. In order to realize these two operations, the chuck keyneeds to cooperate with a rotating mechanism and a lifting mechanism. Inan embodiment, the automatic chuck locking device adopts a combinationof the hydraulic motor and the lifting cylinder, in which a torsion ofthe hydraulic motor is converted into a pressure to control the lockingdegree of the chuck. The hydraulic motor is controlled by a pressuresensor to lock the chuck. The lifting cylinder drives the chuck key tomove into or off the chuck.

In addition, as the automatic chuck locking mechanism comprises themechanical chuck instead of a hydraulic chuck commonly used in therelated art to fix the rod workpiece, in another embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the cutting apparatus may be provided with two setsof automatic chuck locking mechanisms to support and hold the rodworkpiece being cut more stably by two mechanical chucks. FIG. 17 is apartial schematic view of the cutting apparatus with two mechanicalchucks 1301.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, after the rod workpiece is cut intosegments, the rod workpiece is transferred by the chain wheel to thesubsequent operating station to be pressed and broken off. The cuttingapparatus in the embodiment may further comprise a floating rollerconveying mechanism arranged at a station where a pressing/breakingoperation is performed. The floating roller conveying mechanism ensuressafety of the rollers and sufficient resilience in pressing and breakingthe rod workpiece, and the stability over long-term operation. Incontrast, the conventional roller conveying mechanism is lifted by aircylinders, therefore the cost is high, and the positioning of theworkpiece is inaccurate. The roller conveying mechanism in theembodiment of the present disclosure ensures the smooth movement of therod workpieces, ensures safety of the rollers and the relevant mechanismin the pressing/breaking operation, and ensures accuracy of thepressing/breaking position.

FIG. 18 is a side view of the floating roller conveying mechanism in anembodiment of the present disclosure. The floating roller conveyingmechanism may comprise a roller 1801, a V-shaped pressing block 1802,and a compression spring 1803. The rod workpiece 103 is conveyed by therotation of the roller 1801. The V-shaped pressing block 1802 providesstable support for the rod workpiece 103. FIGS. 19 and 19A are partialschematic diagrams of the floating roller conveying mechanism in theembodiment. A connecting plate 1804 and a longitudinal connecting plate1805 constitute a support member of the floating roller conveyingmechanism. In the embodiment, the connecting plate 1804 may be connectedto a base for bearing the floating roller conveying mechanism by ascrew. In the embodiment, the spring 1803 may be sleeved on the screw,so as to provide flexibility for the floating roller conveyingmechanism, thereby realizing the floating roller conveying in theembodiment.

After the rod workpiece is cut, the controller controls the floatingroller conveying mechanism to transfer the cut rod workpiece to adesignated position where the cut rod workpiece is clamped and fixed bya clamping device. As shown in FIG. 20, the rod workpiece is clamped bythe clamping device 1901, and then punched by a pressing/breaking deviceto be broken off at an annular cut-out formed by cutting operation. Asshown in FIG. 18, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, thecutting apparatus may be provided with a V-shaped carrier 1802. Thecontroller controls the floating roller conveying mechanism to transferthe rod workpiece that has been cut to the carrier 1802, and to make theannular cut-out located outside the carrier. As shown in FIG. 21, in anembodiment of the present disclosure, the cutting apparatus may beprovided with a discharge port 1902. The controller controls thefloating roller conveying mechanism to transfer the cut rod workpiece tothe discharge port 1902, and makes the annular cut-out located outsidethe discharge port, so that the rod workpiece 103 is broken off at theannular cut-out when being punched by the pressing/breaking device.

In addition, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the grindingwheel cutting apparatus may be further provided with a fume duct 2202and a particle collecting device 2201. The particle collecting devicemay be arranged at a position where the rod workpiece is cut, so as tocollect particles generated in the cutting operation. As shown in FIG.22, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the particle collectingdevice 2201 may be located below the grinding wheel, and the fume duct2202 may be located above the particle collecting device 2201.

In the related art, the collected fume and particles are not separatedbut are discharged together from the duct, causing pollution to theenvironment. In an embodiment of the disclosure, a fume/particlecollecting device is provided for collecting fume and particlesgenerated in cutting the rod workpieces by the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus. The fume/particle collecting device may comprise afume/particle collecting box 2201 and a fume duct 2202. Thefume/particle collecting box 2201 may be arranged below a tangent linepassing a point where the grinding wheel of the cutting apparatus andthe rod workpiece contact, for collecting the particles generated by thecutting apparatus. The fume duct 2202 may be disposed between thefume/particle collecting box 2201 and the grinding wheel, and may be incommunication with the dust collecting box 2201, for discharging thegenerated fume.

As shown in FIG. 22A, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, thefume/particle collecting device may further comprise a housing 2203 inwhich the fume/particle collecting box 2201 is mounted as a drawerstructure, so as to facilitate the collection of the fume and particles.

In this embodiment, the fume duct 2202 and the particle collectingdevice 2201 are effectively combined. The fume duct 2202 may be providedon the upper part of the particle collecting device 2201. Since thedensity of the fume is different from that of the particles, the fume isdischarged through the fume duct 2202, and the particles deposit to thebottom of the particle collecting device 2201 by their weight. So thefume and the particles are discharged hierarchically, the period forreplacing a filter cartridge of the cutting apparatus is prolonged, theusing cost of the filter cartridge is reduced, and the collection ofparticles is more convenient. In addition, for high temperature alloys,the scarcity of strengthening elements makes sorting and recycling scrapmaterial of the alloys by specifications more important. In thisembodiment, collecting boxes with the drawer structure are provided tocollect particles of different specifications respectively, making ispossible to sort and collect the particles according to specificationsof the alloys, which is favorable for recycling.

The grinding wheel cutting apparatus provided by the present disclosureimproves the operation efficiency, reduces the labor intensity, andimproves the quality of the product. Moreover, the components of thegrinding wheel cutting apparatus such as the automatic feeder, the chucklocking mechanism, the flexible supporting device, and the fume/particlecollecting mechanism and the like, can be independently designed asindividual modules, and can be assembled by connectors such as screws,thereby providing a more convenient and intelligent cutting apparatus.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the grinding wheel cutting apparatusmay further comprise a plurality of housings for accommodating themechanisms and modules described above respectively. FIG. 23 is anoverall schematic view of the cutting apparatus according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

The cutting of metal materials usually involves heavy labor, highpollution, frequent accidents and low degree of automation. However,with the fully-automatic, fully-enclosed grinding wheel cuttingapparatus provided in the present disclosure, the safety and efficiencyof the grinding wheel cutting can be improved, labor intensity andoccupational injuries can be reduced, precision of workpiece can beimproved by intelligent process control, and contamination to theworkpiece in the machining process can be avoided.

The present disclosure provides a grinding wheel apparatus, as shown inFIG. 25, the grinding wheel apparatus may comprise a grinding wheel 251,a flange 252, a pull rod 253, and a spindle 254. The grinding wheel 251may be mounted on one side of the flange 252, and the other side of theflange 252 may be a tapered bucket. The tapered bucket may have a buckleslot, and the end of the pull rod may have a T-shaped buckle throughwhich the pull rod is matched with the buckle slot of the taperedbucket.

As shown in FIGS. 26 and 27, which are respectively a side view and aschematic diagram of the flange 252 in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the flange 252 has a tapered bucket 2521, and the end of thetapered bucket 2521 has a buckle slot 2522 matched with the T-shapedbuckle of the pull rod.

As shown in FIGS. 28 and 29, which are respectively a side view and aschematic diagram of the pull rod 253 in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the end of the pull rod is provided with a T-shaped buckle2531 through which the pull rod is matched with the buckle slot 2522 ofthe tapered bucket.

The pull rod 253 may pass through the spindle, and a pull rod head 2532may be fixed to one end of the spindle. In an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the pull rod head may be fixed to one end of the spindle bybolts. At least one spring may be arranged between the pull rod head andthe spindle. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 28 and 29, four bolts fixthe pull rod to the spindle through threaded holes 2533, and the boltspass through the spring, so that the spring is arranged between the pullrod head and the spindle, and the flange is pulled by the spring and thepull rod to ensure the stability of the grinding wheel during cuttingoperation.

The tapered bucket 2521 may be inserted into the spindle from the otherend of the spindle, so the buckle slot is engaged with the T-shapedbuckle of the pull rod in the spindle, thereby fixing the flange onwhich the grinding wheel is mounted to the other end of the spindle.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the grinding wheel may be connectedto one side of the flange by a thread connection.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 25, thegrinding wheel apparatus may further comprise a grinding wheel pressingplate 255 with internal thread. The flange 252 may be provided with anend portion 2523 having an external thread to match the internal threadof the grinding wheel pressing plate 255. The grinding wheel may beconnected to one side of the flange by the grinding wheel pressing plate255.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, when disassembling the grindingwheel apparatus, the head of the pull rod is pushed by a hydrauliccylinder to separate the flange from the spindle while rotating the pullrod. With this arrangement, the flange and the grinding wheel can bereplaced rapidly.

In another aspect of the disclosure, it is provided a grinding wheelcutting apparatus with the aforesaid grinding wheel apparatus. Atransmission device of the grinding wheel cutting apparatus drives thespindle of the grinding wheel apparatus and therefore rotate thegrinding wheel to cut.

It is another aspect of the disclosure to provide a rod workpiececutting method for cutting a rod workpiece by the grinding wheel cuttingapparatus of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 24, the method maycomprise:

step S101: determining a material density of a rod workpiece to be cutand a segment weight of a segment to be cut off from the rod workpieceaccording to a user instruction;

step S102: obtaining an outer diameter of the rod workpiece;

step S103: determining a segment length of the segment based on theouter diameter, the material density of the rod workpiece and thesegment weight;

step S104: cutting the rod workpiece according to the segment length.

With the method provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, thecutting and blanking are controlled by the cutting apparatus in aquantitative manner, and the weight of each rod workpiece segment cutfrom the rod workpiece is precisely controlled, therefore the weightdeviation of the rod workpiece segments caused by irregularity of thecast piece can be suppressed, and the requirements on thepressing/breaking equipment can be reduced.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of thisdisclosure can be provided as methods, systems or computer programproducts. Therefore, this disclosure may be implemented in the form offully-hardware embodiments, fully-software embodiments, or combinedsoftware-hardware embodiments. In addition, this disclosure may employthe form of a computer program product implemented on one or morecomputer storage medium (including but not limited to disk memory,CD-ROM, and optical memory) containing computer programming code.

This disclosure is set forth by referring to flow charts and/or blockdiagrams for the methods, devices (systems), and computer programproducts of the embodiments. It should be understood that each processand/or block of the flow charts and/or block diagrams as well ascombinations of the processes and/or boxes of the flow charts and/orblock diagrams can be realized by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions can be provided to general-purposecomputers, special-purpose computers, embedded processors or theprocessors of other programmable data processing devices to produce amachine, so that an apparatus for implementing the functions designatedin one or more processes of the flowcharts and/or one or more blocks ofthe block diagrams can be produced by the instructions executed by theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processing device.

These computer program instructions can also be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium which can guide a computer or otherprogrammable data processing device to operate in a particular way, sothat an article of manufacture comprising an instruction apparatus canbe produced by the instructions stored in the storage medium, with theinstruction apparatus implementing the functions designated in one ormore processes of the flowcharts and/or one or more blocks of the blockdiagram.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computeror other programmable data processing device to make the computer orother programmable data processing device perform a sequence ofcomputer-implemented operations, so that the instructions executed bythe computer or other programmable data processing device realize one ormore processes of the flowcharts and/or one or more blocks of the blockdiagram.

The principles and implementations of the present disclosure have beendescribed above by means of some embodiments. It should be understoodthat the embodiments are meant to facilitate understanding of theprinciples of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art canmake any modifications based on the teachings of this disclosure. Thisspecification shall not be construed as any limitation to the presentdisclosure.

1. An automatic chuck apparatus comprising a mechanical chuck, amechanical chuck mounting bracket, a hydraulic motor, a liftingmechanism, a chuck key and a lifting cylinder, wherein, the mechanicalchuck is mounted above the mechanical chuck mounting bracket, and thehydraulic motor, the lifting mechanism and the lifting cylinder aremounted below the mechanical chuck mounting bracket; the hydraulic motoris configured to drive the chuck key to rotate, the lifting cylinder isconfigured to drive the chuck key to ascend or descend through thelifting mechanism, thereby the mechanical chuck is locked or loosened bythe chuck key.
 2. A grinding wheel cutting apparatus which comprises theautomatic chuck apparatus according to claim 1, and is configured toclamp a rod workpiece by the automatic chuck apparatus to cut the rodworkpiece.
 3. The grinding wheel cutting apparatus according to claim 2,comprising two sets of the automatic chuck apparatus.
 4. The grindingwheel cutting apparatus according to claim 2, comprising a first laserdistance sensor, a master controller, and a grinding wheel, wherein thefirst laser distance sensor is communicatively coupled to the mastercontroller, wherein the laser distance sensor is configured to obtain anouter diameter of a rod workpiece; the master controller is configuredto transmit the outer diameter of the rod workpiece to an externaldevice, and receive a segment length of a segment to be cut off from therod workpiece which is determined by the external device based on theouter diameter of the rod workpiece, a material density of the rodworkpiece and a segment weight of the segment; the master controller isconfigured to perform a control to circularly cut the rod workpiece withthe grinding wheel according to the segment length.
 5. The grindingwheel cutting apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising asecond laser distance sensor configured to obtain a cut depth of the rodworkpiece.
 6. The grinding wheel cutting apparatus according to claim 4,comprising two sets of the automatic chuck apparatus.
 7. A rod workpiececutting method for cutting a rod workpiece with the grinding wheelcutting apparatus according to claim 2, comprising: determining amaterial density of a to-be-cut rod workpiece and a segment weightaccording to a user instruction; obtaining an outer diameter of the rodworkpiece; determining a segment length based on the outer diameter, thematerial density of the rod workpiece and the segment weight; andcircularly cutting the rod workpiece according to the segment length anda preset reserved core diameter.
 8. The rod workpiece cutting methodaccording to claim 7, further comprising: obtaining a cut depth of therod workpiece; and determining a compensation depth for the next cutbased on the obtained cut depth and a prescribed compensation algorithm.